Cat Found by Ingrid Lee Page B

“Conga!” he yelled. “Where are you? Conga!”
    The wild shriek shut him up. A she-cat materialized on the top of the fence. She ran at the gray tom, backing him into the post by the edge of the yard. Then she gave Billy one of her looks.
    “Conga!” Billy yelled. “Conga, wait!” He could have saved his breath. The cat vanished over the far side of the fence. Billy ran across the yard, kicking at the crates, scrambling up the sides. “That’s her!” he cried. “That’s Conga. She wants me to follow her. I’ve got to get over the fence! Dad, help me!”
    Billy’s dad didn’t hesitate. He picked up his boy and dumped him over the boards.
    “Wait for me!” a girl shouted. Reddick practically jumped out of his skin. He looked up to the mulberry branch spreading over his head. A black ghost hustled along the tree limb. She was nothing more than a hurried shadow blocking the star-spangled sky, but it didn’t take a genius to know she was headed after his Billy.
    Reddick reached for the rim of the fence.
    “Stop right there!” another voice shouted.
    “What the
—
?”
Reddick muttered. There was someone
else
in the yard! He spun into the glare of alien eyes. They were headlights, fierce yellow ones. A bulldozer had rumbled into the alley. The dull drone of the motor swelled into a vibrating roar as it squeezed between the narrow walls.
    “Stop!” the voice yelled again. In front of the headlights, a figure waved his arms wildly. “Stop!”
    “Luke, no!” the girl in the tree shouted, hooked to a swaying limb by her knees. “That thing is bigger than you! Get out of the way!”
    “It’ll have to flatten me first!” the figure roared back.
    Then Billy’s dad recognized the dark shape in front of the lights. It was the ponytailed kid, the street boy, theone always rummaging in the trash cans. He was trying to stop a bulldozer from coming into the chapel yard. Idiot! Did he think he could stop ten tons of steel?
    The bulldozer rolled relentlessly down the alleyway, closer and closer. The man with the red face leaned out the window. “Move it!” he yelled at the boy blocking his path. “The council wants this place cleaned up. I’ve got a contract. You can’t obstruct the city!”
    “Over my dead body!” Luke yelled. He stood his ground.
    “Oh, brother!” grumbled Salome, dropping from her perch over Reddick’s head. “This is really gonna land me in the slammer.” She sprinted toward the boy and linked her arm through his. “Make that
two
bodies!” she yelled at the bulldozer. She stamped her foot at the hungry shovel. Her silver hoops flashed.
    The driver leaned out the window. “No stupid kids are gonna stop me from doing my job!” he bellowed.
    “In the name of reason!” Reddick grunted. He left the fence, clambering over the crates and barrels, and shoved his bulk between the girl and the ponytailed kid. “Cut that motor!” he ordered the driver. “Before someone gets hurt.”
    “Yowl!”
The scream rode over the roar of the machine. Reddick felt the hair on his neck stand up when a heap ofwire bristles shoved between his feet. The gray tom had joined the party. The cat took up a stance at the front of the line.
    The bulldozer kept coming.
    “Yowl!”
the tom screamed again. His blue eyes chilled the fierce machinery.
    Six feet from the blockade, the man in the bulldozer gave up. He cut the engine and climbed out of his cab. “Hey, Walt!” he said. “What brings you out in the middle of the night? You turn into some hippie tree hugger?”
    Billy’s dad looked down. The gray tom was gone. So were the kids. He was alone. “I guess I keep company with ghosts,” he said to the man planted beside his bulldozer. “It’s turning out to be a long night. And I want to go home. I suggest you do the same. You and I can have it out tomorrow. Drinks on me.” He folded his arms and waited.
    The driver put his hands on his hips and did some waiting of his own. The chapel yard got